Data standardization. After eliminating self-citations (including 157
self-citations for CACM, or 36% of
its total citations within the network
in 2003), we normalized the data to
account for citation differences due
to journals having different reference
list criteria, longer articles, more frequent publishing cycles, or more articles per issue. Thus each cell in the
normalized data matrix represents the
proportion of a given journal’s total
network citations that were made to
other journals in the network, with
each “receiving” journal’s final normalized score being the sum of these
proportions [ 1, 3]. It is possible that
some bias could be introduced by this
method, particularly when citing
journals make very few citations and Figure1.Information
a disproportionate percentage of flow (full network).
these go to a single journal. Consistent with prior
ranking studies, CACM overwhelmingly received the
highest normalized score for any cited journal in the
network (see Table 1).

DATA ANALYSIS

Information flow. Network citation
data was analyzed using UCINET 6
and Netdraw 2. 34. The journals
were classified into the broad categories of IS, computer science, management/professional, and operations
research based on classifications used
in prior IS journal ranking studies. 2Node size in the network diagrams is
a function of each journal’s normalized ranking, while arrow direction
represents information flowing from
cited journals to citing journals. The
full network (see Figure 1) is split
fairly evenly, with journals allied
more closely to computer science
(blue) on one side, and journals
allied more closely with business
disciplines, including IS (red), on
the other. CACM occupies a central
position in the full network, bridging the gap between the more technical computer science journals and the more
business-oriented IS journals. MIS Quarterly, Infor-

Figure 2.
Information flow

(spring embedding,
0.10 threshold).

2Details on how we determined our classifications and the studies upon which these
classifications are based are available on request.

LEGEND
IS
CS
Mgmt/Prof
OR
Not classified

mation Systems Research, and Journal of MIS, which
are usually considered the most prestigious “pure IS”
journals, all occupy the dense central region of the
red cluster.

We use spring embedding, a method that positions

LEGEND
IS
CS
Mgmt/Prof
OR
Not classified

network actors graphically based on their pairwise geodesic distances [ 1], to analyze the direction and
strength of network information flows. At a threshold
of 0.10 (meaning the proportion of Journal A’s total
citations that were made to Journal B is >= 0.10), clusters of related journals begin to emerge, as well as journals that serve as connections between clusters (see
Figure 2). A “pure IS” cluster emerges (upper right-hand corner), which cites MIS Quarterly heavily but is